Microphysical characterisation of West African MCS anvils
Résumé
Deep convection in the Tropics is the source of large tropospheric extended clouds usually called anvils. These anvils may produce precipitation (stratiform region of deep convective storms), and also cirrus shields persisting from several hours to several days. Anvils impact the radiation budget, they induce a storage term in the whole water budget which is still relatively poorly quantified, and dynamical feedbacks may be induced in the upper troposphere. The AMMA field campaign which was held over West Africa during the 2006 wet season provided a unique opportunity to document the microphysics of these anvils from unprecedented airborne observations.